Chapter 81 Extra Time

Chapter 81 Extra Time
Noah POV

The whistle goes and for a moment Noah just stands there.

Not still. His whole body is moving, the adrenaline of the last ninety minutes still running through his system without anywhere particular to go. But he stands there in the middle of the pitch and he breathes, once, twice, and he lets the noise of the stadium arrive.

Marcus reaches him first. He does not say anything. He just grabs Noah by the back of the neck and they stand there like that for a second, forehead almost to forehead, the specific language of two people who have played alongside each other for three years and do not always need words.

"We did it," Marcus says.

"We did it."

"I want it noted," Marcus says, pulling back, grinning, "that I set up both goals."

"You set up one goal," Noah says. "Jamil set up the first."

"Jamil's assist was enabled by the space I created in the build-up."

"That is not how assists work."

"I am requesting a moral assist," Marcus says. "For contributions to the general conditions of goalscoring."

Noah looks at him. "Noted," he says. "Denied."

Marcus accepts this with dignity. Then he turns and shouts something at Tyler across the pitch that makes Tyler laugh and shake his head.



The celebrations move in their natural order. Handshakes with the opposition, who are dignified about it. The presentation, brief and formal. The photographs. The lap of the stadium, all of them together, the team that spent September fractured and October uncertain and November finding its shape.

Noah runs the lap and he accepts the noise of the crowd and he shakes the hands of the players near him and he is present for all of it. But underneath the presence he is already looking.

He knows where to look. He has known where to look since September.



The east stand, third row.

Red skirt. Chin up. Watching.

Elias is standing because the whole stand is standing. He is clapping because everyone is clapping. But the way he is looking is the way he has always looked, specifically and fully, the way that does not leave room for misunderstanding.

Noah breaks away from the lap.

He walks off the pitch and through the gate and into the concourse. Players are still running the lap behind him. He will get it from Marcus later. He does not care.

Elias meets him at the bottom of the stand steps.

"You won," Elias says.

"We won," Noah says.

"I was in the stands."

"You were in every stand," Noah says. "Every home match. Every accessible broadcast. You've been at every game this season."

"I have."

"Then we won," Noah says.

Elias looks at him for a moment. Something in his face does the settling thing it does, the specific ease of someone who has been proved right about something they were not entirely certain of.

Noah steps forward and he pulls Elias into him and he holds on properly, boots still muddy, kit still damp, in front of the east stand and whoever is watching and whoever has their phone out.

In front of all of it.

Elias wraps his arms around him and holds back.

"Good match," Elias says into his shoulder.

"Thanks for watching," Noah says.



They stand there for a moment in the concourse noise.

Then Marcus arrives.

"I TOLD YOU," Marcus is saying to anyone who will listen. "THREE MONTHS AGO. I SAID SORT YOURSELF OUT AND HE DID. THIS IS MY CONTRIBUTION TO THIS CHAMPIONSHIP."

"He is going to say this for years," Noah says into Elias's shoulder.

"He should," Elias says. "He earned it."

"He told me to sort myself out four times."

"You needed to hear it four times."

Noah pulls back slightly and looks at him. "You always agree with Marcus."

"Marcus is frequently correct," Elias says. "I acknowledge correct things. It is a policy."



Tyler finds them next. He shakes Noah's hand properly, the full grip, and says: "Good match, Captain."

"Good match," Noah says.

"Same time next year," Tyler says. He nods at Elias once and moves on.

Drayden comes last. He stands at the edge of the small group that has formed and he waits for the right moment.

"Good match," he says to Noah.

"You too. Back four was solid all day."

Drayden nods. Then he looks at Elias. "He talked about you a lot," he says. "When things were hard. He kept your name like something worth protecting."

Elias is quiet for a moment. Noah does not say anything.

"I didn't understand that then," Drayden says. "I think I do now." He looks at Noah. "Good to have a person like that."

"Yeah," Noah says. "It is."

Drayden nods once more and goes.

The three of them stand in a row watching him walk away, Noah and Elias and the space where something difficult used to be.

"That was unexpected," Elias says quietly.

"He's been working up to it," Noah says.

"I could tell."

"Does it land okay?"

Elias looks at him. "Yes," he says. "It lands well."

"I always watch," Elias says.

"I know," Noah says. "That's the whole thing. That's everything."